Helpdesk

Dear Drugs-Forum readers: We are a small non-profit that runs one of the most read drug information & addiction help websites in the world. We serve over 4 million readers per month, and have costs like all popular websites: servers, hosting, licenses and software. To protect our independence we do not run ads. We take no government funds. We run on donations which average $25. If everyone reading this would donate $5 then this fund raiser would be done in an hour. If Drugs-Forum is useful to you, take one minute to keep it online another year by donating whatever you can today. Donations are currently not sufficient to pay our bills and keep the site up. Your help is most welcome. Thank you.

Customs officers punished for planting drugs in passengers’ luggage

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo Customs punished three of its officers Monday for secretly slipping drugs into travelers' luggage more than 160 times at Japan's main international airport to train drug-sniffing dogs, an official said.

The three customs officers had been planting drugs in randomly selected bags at Narita International Airport in Tokyo since September last year, Tokyo Customs spokesman Kazutoshi Takahashi said.

"We are deeply sorry that such acts have happened," Takahashi said. "The three officers apologized and explained that they did it in an effort to boost the dogs' performance."

The trio's monthslong practice was exposed following an embarrassing blunder in May.

One of the officers slipped a package of cannabis resin into an outside pocket of luggage belonging to a traveler from Hong Kong, but a sniffer dog failed to detect it, Takahashi said.

Once the officer realized the drugs had left the airport — along with the unsuspecting traveler — he panicked and informed his bosses.

Tokyo Customs then frantically sought help from airline and airport officials to track down the Hong Kong traveler at his Tokyo hotel and recover the more than 4 ounces of resin a day later.

"This embarrassing incident prompted us to investigate," Takahashi said. He insisted that the three had never unlocked or unzipped passengers' bags.